The thin conception of belonging to the American community consisted of a respect for the rights of others and a broad commitment to neoliberal economic policies of free trade and the power of the market. The thicker conception of belonging required a story of what the American project has been, is, and will be—what it means to participate in this wild and rich experiment in building a republic. In this country and many others, membership in the community of the nation is at risk of being reduced to something narrow and incomplete, the loose sense of affiliation that comes from sharing a
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